Activist’s mission: Reassess tax assessor’s home, make her pay more

TRENTON — An activist trying to get a tax assessor's home reassessed — saying it's valued at too little and therefore its owners aren't paying their fair share of taxes — won a legal battle Friday.

The New Jersey Herald said Judge Vito Bianco ruled that Michael Holenstein and his wife, Penny,  who is tax assessor for three Sussex County towns, must allow an inspection of their home in Fredon within the next 60 days. Activist Jesse Wolosky, who brought the suit, will be able to pick the assessor of the home.

The Holensteins wanted the case dismissed on the grounds it was "frivolous" and brought in retaliation for the way a tax assessment went in 2015 on Wolosky's  property in Green Township, according to the newspaper.

But according to the report, Wolosky's attorney Matthew Petracca said in court that the Holensteins' home was last inspected in 2006 but their property assessment was reduced in 2010 on a tax appeal and in 2012 during a town wide revaluation. He contends that an inspection should have been done each time but was not.

The case will be heard in court on Dec. 20 according to the report, which said the Holentstein's home is a 3,300-square-foot colonial on 6.3 acres on a cul-de-sac with a swimming pool and a barn.